Pyongyang launches loyalty

Seoul, May 29 (IANS) North Korea has launched a new campaign for loyalty to the regime to boost its work in the country, part of a five-year economic strategy announced at the last party congress earlier this month.

Members of the Workers’ Party – including officials, economists and military men – agreed to launch “a 200-day loyalty campaign” during a conference held this week between Thursday and Saturday, the official North Korean KCNA news agency announced on Sunday.

During the meeting, participants “discussed ways to conscientiously fulfil the five-year strategy for state economic development as well as other important measures to achieve the goal of building a socialist power,” said the official media.

North Korean Prime Minister Pak Pong-ju, who drafted the report of the meeting, stressed the need to make every effort to successfully accomplish the plan presented by leader Kim Jong-un during the Seventh Congress Workers party, held from May 6 to 9, EFE news reported.

During four-day conclave, the first held in 36 years, Kim outlined an economic strategy for 2016 to 2020 that aims to solve the country’s energy problems and improving the lives of citizens.

The new initiative comes shortly after the “70-day campaign” launched in February to pave the way for the Congress, during which civil servants worked tirelessly and increased their working hours, earning Kim condemnation by Human Rights Watch (HRW).